Will Middlebrooks Says New York “Smells Like Garbage”
After the Red Sox signed Trevor Story, stories started to surface about the recruiting process to land Story. A number of past and present members of Red Sox nation made sure to pitch Story that Boston was the home for him. Former third baseman Will Middlebrooks had the funniest sales pitch to Story.
Middlebrooks had a prior relationship with Story having worked out with him during the offseason during his playing career. His pitch may helped sway Story to Boston.
“I was selling it for days,” Middlebrooks told the Boston Globe, referring to previous conversations he had with the two-time, All-Star shortstop. “I laid it out. I said, ‘Look, New York smells like garbage and they have rats the size of Shetland ponies. You don’t want to go there.
“You don’t want to go to California. The taxes are absurd. You’ll lose all your money there. In Houston, they have hurricanes. The perfect place to go is Boston.’”
“I made that joke to him. He got a kick out of that. But I said in all honesty, I told him I played in five places. If you want the best experience in baseball as a player, you have to experience playing as a home player at Fenway Park in front of Red Sox Nation. There’s nothing better than playing against the Yankees on a Sunday night or playing in the postseason. You can’t beat it.”
Middlebrooks isn’t wrong. The taxes are absurd in California and it does smell like garbage in New York.
It was clear that Story wanted to win above all else. To the point where he was willing to move to second base and turned down more money elsewhere. The Sox front office deserves credit for swaying Story to come to Boston. Teams like Houston likely pursued Story too after losing Carlos Correa.
The real phone call that probably swayed Story to come to Boston was the one that Xander Bogaerts made. Despite the fact that Story has played his entire career at shortstop and could be viewed as a potential replacement, Bogaerts told Story he wanted him in Boston.
